Tax and Budget History
Commonwealth of PA Department of Education Act 1
The Act 1 index is used to determine the maximum tax increases for each tax the school district levies (without PDE exception or voter approval).The base index is calculated by averaging the percent increases in the Pennsylvania statewide average weekly wage and the Federal employment cost index for elementary/secondary schools.
For the 2023 – 2024 school year, the Act 1 maximum increase for the Cumberland Valley School District is 4.1%.
From a historical perspective, the CVSD has raised taxes to nearly the maximum allowed by law for years (and by ‘nearly’ we are talking about 99.9% or more of the maximum allowable increase).
For the 2020-2021 school year, taxes were raised the maximum allowed by Act 1, That is the year that the district elected to install turf and lighting on the High School Athletic fields for a cost in excess of $3,000,000. Remember, this was on the heels of massive COVID lockdowns, when many businesses were forced to close and taxpayers were suffering financially.
The following documents provide information on the base index and each school district's adjusted index for school year 2023-24.
https://www.pacodeandbulletin.gov/Display/pabull?file=/secure/pabulletin/data/vol52/52-38/1432.html